News of the king's speech spread quickly from the capital. Like a flame gone wild within a dry forest, it couldn't be stopped and within only a few days, most of the kingdom had heard, and by the end of the second, everyone knew of the king's words, of the king's promises and the power he'd shown that day.
The reaction, for the most part, was positive if skeptical. Although the words hit the people and gave them hope, they still remembered the events that had led up to this. The poverty, the pain, and the suffering the previous royalty had caused and things had not yet been fixed in any impactful way. Many were hoping the king's words were true and that soon things would be back to normal, if not better than normal.
Rumors spread of course, as was expected, both good and bad. While the majority had been impacted in a good way by the speech, those of the underground of Larra had not.
The criminal element of Larra while not particularly large was active all over the kingdom and in the past few months had grown considerably, due to the war and lack of security. Murder, robbery, sexual assault, and thievery had thrived and many a pocket had been filled.
They were not pleased with the king's words. They preferred if things continued as they did, and thought they'd seen and heard of the power the new king held, many were not worried. They weren't as weak as they'd once been They'd grown powerful during the war. If this new king wanted to try and take them down, he would find it a more difficult task than he thought, or so the criminals thought.
If only they'd known the true power of the king's allies, and of his spymaster.
Their laughter would soon turn to screams.
As for the outlining towns and villages that had been ignored for the most part by the previous generations of royalty, they while pleased that they would finally be getting help, were skeptical and many doubted this new king could manage it.
All over the kingdom, rumors and poison abounded, hope and doubt clashing. Hope of a new and better Larra, and doubt that this new king could keep to his promises.
However, unbeknownst to the people of Larra, they were not the only ones paying attention and thinking of the new king.
To the Western borders of Larra stood a mountain range that cut across the land and divided the kingdom of Larra from the old Denzin plains, and within this mountain range was a cabin. A simple wood cabin of unremarkable build and quality. In comparison to the desolate and cold feeling of the area, it looked and, if one to go near it, felt warmly.
At first one might simply think one a fool to build a cabin in such an area since not only was it freezing constantly, the mountain was home to many a dangerous beast, which made it all the more surprising that the cabin was in perfect condition, and the surrounding area was empty of beasts, almost as if they were intentionally avoiding it.
A light flickered within the cabin and an old man gently rocking in a simple wooden chair, opened his eyes for the first time in over a hundred years. Despite the aged look on his face, his skin shone like porcelain, and his body was more akin to that of an athlete and fighter than that of an old man almost as if someone had taken the body of a young man and meshed it with the features of an elderly man.
"Not again, I really need to get control of it."
The man sighed and lifted a finger. The air around him stilled and a moment later, his face which had looked like that of a man in his sixties now looked like that of a handsome twenty-five-year-old.
"That's better, now, what is it this time. It had better not be that damn serpent again. I've told him time after time, you cannot eat aspects that are already a part of yourself."
To his surprise however there were no presences nearby and it took a moment to realize that he had been woken not by a person, but by himself, or more accurately, the powerful artifact close by.
He reached over to a nearby book that was set atop a table, and slowly picked it up, opening it and skimming through the pages, all while muttering to himself.
"Let's see, past the Exeron crisis, but before, no after the fall of Denzim. That's odd, we're not due for another convergence for another twenty years. What woke you?"
The man frowned as the pages began to turn rapidly by themselves until they quickly reached the latest page of the book. If one were to have watched him, it would have seemed like the book had more pages than was possible.
"Ok, here it is... what in the world?"
Throughout all of his years, the man had seen many things within the book, from techniques to poems, to cursed words and images, but never had he seen anything like this.
[Error... foreign presence detected. Crude manipulation of fate in process... protocol 67 activating]
That single line of text made little sense to the man, but the feelings he got from the book made things clearer. The book held a part of himself within it and so was technically somewhat sentient, and the feeling he was getting from it made no sense.
Fear, overwhelming fear of the source of the power that had completely negated its ability, its main ability, an ability that was treasured even amongst the highest artifacts of the eighth divine court. It dated back to the third court, a time where the divines had been at their peak, but even with all its power and supposed great control over fate, it had beaten easily, not just easily, but with no effort. The man got one last feeling from the book before it slowly went back to sleep.
Anger.
The book felt insulted. Crude. It was a great artifact, and it had been called crude.
The man sighed heavily as the book went back to sleep. He glanced out the window and shook his head.
"Well, I guess I'm not gonna back to sleep."
There was no way he wasn't going to figure out what had happened, because if the book had activated then he was not the only one who would have felt it. Within a few moments, they'd arrive, and no doubt the others would be scrambling to find out what had happened and what the book had said.
He stood and with a thought sent the book to his personal space. It was best if he left this spec of land, if they all arrived at the same time and an argument broke out, then this empire would be rubble by the end of the hour, let alone the day.
"Damn book. I just wanted a nap."
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Please review, comment and add to library. Also, I would greatly appreciate it if you could share this fic and graciously donate your power stones.
Thanks for reading :)
Two episodes of filler left then we move onto the next arc, and I'm really hyped about it. I've got a lot of good stuff planned, and there's going to be more development on the world and magic system of the world. There is a lot of exciting stuff coming up but I don't want to spoil any of it.
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Samwell Dains sighed in contentment as he looked into the large fire in the middle of their camp. Laughing, cheers and even a few moans sounded from beside him as people celebrated the successful haul of today.
He smiled as he remembered the luck they'd had in stumbling upon supply carriages leaving the capital with money and food for the outlining towns and villages. They'd been well defended by soldiers but his group was made up of former elites from the army and not only did they know the fighting styles thought, but they'd developed ways to counter them, and combined with the ambush, they'd won with minimal losses and a whole lot of gains.
"Boss, come on join us," a redhead in her middle years said, shooting him a sly wink as she rubbed her body against another brunette that looked much younger. He recognized her as one of the new arrivals. The end of the war and defeat of Birohts forces had meant plenty of potential recruits roaming the kingdom wilds. Not every soldier had been with the army that had fallen at the capital. They'd run into scouts, groups of soldiers, and more.
They usually just killed and robbed them, but when they found someone with some decent talent and a pretty face, they invited them to join. He hadn't tried this one out yet.
He licked his lips and stood to move closer but froze as someone burst into their camp from some nearby trees.
"Boss!"
The man ran straight for Sam, who frowned as he noticed the blood staining the man's left side.
"James? What the hell happened? Soldiers?"
James fell before Sam's feet and looked up into his eyes, momentarily shocking him. James was just as old as Sam and just as tough, so when Sam saw the absolute look of terror in the man's eyes, he couldn't help but become nervous.
He knelt down as the others around them drew steel, and moved into rough formations, a few taking longer than usual due to the alcohol, and drugs.
Sam knelt down so he was at eye level with James.
"James? What happened, was it soldiers? Beasts? Damn man! Speak!"
"Pale skin and teeth... too many teeth, oh gods it's still out there."
James began shivering. "Sam, I don't want to die."
Frustrated with the lack of response from the man and unnerved by the way his friend was acting, Sam raised a hand and slapped James hard across the face.
"Snap the fuck out of it, and tell me what happened?"
James held a hand against the handprint on his face, and Sam saw some sanity return to his friend's eyes. "A monster, I was just taking a leak, and I heard a noise. It sounded odd so I went to see and... I saw it."
The last three words were just a whisper.
"What?" Sam asked. "What did you see?"
"A nightmare," Sam replied in a shaky voice. "It was playing with me, Sam. I tried to run at first, but it just keep pushing me in different directions and toying with me. I swear it was laughing."
Sam pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose and sighed."James I'm only going to ask one more time. What was it? What did it look like? What type was it?"
Sam considered James a close friend, but his unease was starting to fade into frustration and anger at the way his friend was speaking. Sure he might have met a monster, but he was safe now. There were over three dozen in the camp, and all of them could use kor or mana to some degree. His friend was too worried, and it was starting to piss him off.
James gulped. "Ivory, its skin was like ivory and it walked on two legs. I think there was something else in the sky but I don't know. It was big, like a small giant, ya know like the ones we saw that one time when we crossed the border into Ventrin, but probably a bit bigger."
"Is that all?" Sam asked, not understanding why James sounded so scared. It didn't sound all that scary.
James nodded. "It was dark and I couldn't see much else."
"Go get something to eat, then rest," Sam said, standing and turning away from James.
"All right, listen up!" Sam shouted, getting everyone's attention. "In groups I want you to do a quick search of the area. Say about two-thirds of us, the others will remain here with me. If you find a beast with ivory or pale colored skin, kill it and bring me its head. The one who does will get a bonus from the haul we got today and the first pick of the next girls we take or men if you prefer."
His soldiers cheered and quickly got into four groups of six each, going in different directions.
No matter what this beast was, Sam was confident that his soldiers could handle it. In the meantime, he'd have some fun with the brunette who had stayed behind.
He sighed and headed over to the girl, once again calm and relaxed.
-----
If Sam had known what beast had attacked his friend, then he wouldn't have been so calm or relaxed.
Only a few feet away from the camp, hidden by trees, foliage, and its own natural ability to camouflage, the ivory nightmare, more commonly known as Rex grinned. Anyone who would have been near and saw it would have most likely run away.
Like its new allies, it had been hunting at its alpha's orders and what a fruitful hunt it had been. This group of prey was the last for today before he bedded down for some rest, so instead of finishing it quickly as he'd done with the rest, Rex wanted to have some fun.
He slowly backed away from the camp and turned in the direction of one of the groups. His steps made no sound and his form remained camouflaged, combined with the already dark night, he wasn't worried about being spotted.
He stalked into the night, his claws twitching with eagerness and his eyes full of malice
On this night, Sam and his soldiers would meet a true predator.
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Please review, comment and add to library. Also, I would greatly appreciate it if you could share this fic and graciously donate your power stones.
Thanks for reading :)
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